Shin Koihime Musou: Cowardly Heroics
by Ranger9000
Summary: One moment of desperation by someone completely unexpected throws the plot off the rails. The one girl who never got a shot gets a chance to prove her worth, and one poor bastard ends up getting pulled into a world normally reserved for women with superpowers. He'll need luck, guile, and a good sense of when to hide behind someone more powerful to survive now.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** So ya, I'm starting up a new story, no this does not mean B-Team is cancelled. It's just been hit by a serious case of writers block combined with me not having a plot outline when I started that one. I'm hoping I've learned from some of my mistakes I made with the start of B-Team, and this story has an actually detailed plot plan already.

Thanks to Heroism for officially betaing this and to my two friends who gave the initial draft a once over. As always feel free to review, if you love, hate, or are neutral to my story, I'd like to hear it!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Koihime Musou, Shin Koihime Musou, or anything related to the copyright. If I did then Shin Koihime Musou would already have an official English translation

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**Chapter 1: Battle of Sishui Pass**

"First rank, brace" A heavily bearded man shouted over a mass of nearly 500 people attempting to follow his orders as best they could, which resulted in a ragged line of spears being pointed in vaguely the right direction, along with a few spears being dropped to the ground and more then one person knocked over by a wild haft.

In the far back of the 'formation' was a man by the name of Huang who looked just like any other soldier in the group; tanned skin thick with musculature from a life of farming, simple clothing that spoke of low income, and light brown eyes. The only real distinguishing trait of the man was that he was slightly taller than average, though he was certainly nowhere near the tallest man in the group.

As he watched the rest of the conscripts attempt to do what they were told, Huang looked over how he had gotten to where he was currently. At 21 he had spent his life as a farmer; admittedly, a farmer who may or may not have avoided his taxes and sold the extra food to procure funds with which to leave his remote village, but still a farmer.

Unfortunately, his generation had apparently been cursed with interesting times. Even in his backwater of a village he had heard of the chaos tearing through China. Following the initial news—the tales of a group calling themselves the Yellow Turbans cutting a swath through the east—Huang had continued working his land. The problems were far away after all, and there was no point in worrying about someone else's peril.

Then came the local bandits; not that they were really a new problem—no, the only real difference was that these bandits were well-organized, and without a central authority to fight them. Travellers to the village, caravans to market; all of them began to stop. Fearing the local bandits led by women of great power, what few people still reached Huang's remote village told of a demon trio capable of cutting men down like wheat.

Still, Huang's own life was not terribly affected. Sure, he couldn't make as much money on the side, but no taxmen came either; so he and his village had more than enough food to survive the winter. If things had stayed that way, Huang wouldn't have really paid any mind. It would have put a damper on his plans to eventually leave the village behind, but at least it was safe. The problem was that the problems weren't over yet. Instead of a tax man, the next year brought the army.

A noble astride his horse led a platoon of a hundred soldiers to the village, bringing tidings of the world outside, and that every able-bodied man within the town was to come with them to serve in the armies of the rightful Han Emperor. Just being farmers, unarmed and unprepared, none of them were exactly planning to resist the soldiers; so Huang and his fellows found themselves being led away.

That was how Huang found himself drafted into the army, and also how he found himself working under one of the bandit-demon women he had heard of almost a year ago, apparently now turned to the Han's side.

"Brace to the rear!" *Thunk*

That was how Huang found himself sprawled out on the ground as the eager man beside him, while turning around, bashed him in the back of the head with his spear.

Huang quickly pulled himself to his feet to avoid gaining the rather dangerous attention of the drill sergeants. Assuming the same stance as the rest of the men in his row, he quickly glanced around and gulped as he saw that he might not have gone as unnoticed as he had hoped. Standing nearby, glaring at the entire congregation of soldiers, stood General Kayuu—otherwise known as the former bandit lord he was now fighting under.

If there was one thing everyone would know about General Kayuu, it was that the woman was frightening; emphasized by the axe she wielded which was significantly larger than her. The other thing that a few less people would say was that the General was extremely good-looking. She had neck-length silver hair, an average bust, and a skimpy outfit to hug her curves in all the right places. Though, considering the few other generals that Huang had seen in command of the other Han forces in the area, that seemed to be a given. The fact that they were all female wasn't unusual for any of the conscripts; they had all heard tales of great female generals of past generations.

Still, the primary thing was that she was frightening, and she was currently turning a very virulent glare on the various conscripts assembled on the field. Even though Huang was only glared at for a moment as the General's sight passed over her, he had to keep his legs from shaking in fear.

"You are all terrible. Give me ten laps!" Huang's attention was taken away from the General when the drill sergeant shouted, apparently having had enough of the conscript's ragtag formation, and when the laps came to an end the farmer-turned-soldier would find that the General had left.

*Scene Break*

Later that evening Huang was worrying even more then he had under General Kayuu's glare, namely because it was his turn on guard duty on the walls that guarded Sishui pass. Sentry duty was a job that gave him a very good view of the camp fires of the Anti-Totaku coalition army, and the sight of tens of thousands of campfires made Huang wonder how they ever planned to win.

At the very least the coalition didn't seem too eager to attack during the night, so Huang could rest assured in that he wasn't likely going to be killed by an arrow out darkness or something. Instead he was forced to sit and rub his hands in the hopes of warding off the cold that descended into the mountains during the late hours.

There would have been something even better for ridding the cold, but the booze rations they had received due to the impending battle hadn't really been enough to do more then give a bit of a taste; but at the same time Huang now knew where they were storing the precious rations.

Glancing left and right, Huang saw that the other sentries seemed to be either drifting to sleep or were not paying attention to anything other than the torches ahead of them. That was perfect for the former farmer, and he slipped away from his watch without disturbing any of the other guards.

Sneaking through the sleeping camp, Huang went from tent to tent, dodging the few patrols that wandered the fort. Then he reached the supply tent that he knew contained the alcohol. Like the wall sentries, the two in charge of guarding the alcohol tent both seemed to be half-asleep. That made Huang's task a lot easier.

Slipping around to the back of the tent, Huang lifted one of the flaps and slipped inside. Around the tent were huge stacks of barrels of alcohol, but the farmer knew that trying to sneak back to the walls with a large barrel would be a disaster waiting to happen. Instead he rummaged around a bit and found a box containing multiple bottles of wine. With a victorious smile, the man grabbed one of the bottles and slipped it into his clothes before ducking back out of the tent.

Once back at the wall, he took some time to enjoy his prize, sipping some of the superior drink straight from the bottle—at least until the sentry beside him stirred and looked over at him. Huang could only stare back for a few moments before he raised the bottle to the other guy, willing to share the drink if it meant he wasn't going to get reported and lashed.

Tension hung in the air for a moment longer, and then the other man gave a toothy smile and accepted the drink. Soon a few other guards came along to join in, and the bottle was finished quicker than any of them would have liked; but at least they were warm now.

As the sun started to crest the horizon—at which time the bottle was well-hidden—an officer came to the wall. "Every one of you, report to your units immediately. The General plans to march out against the enemy by the time it's bright enough for our archers."

Then just as quickly as he arrived, the officer left, leaving behind a whole group of stunned soldiers. Huang was the first to speak. "Why the hell are we leaving behind a perfectly good fortress to attack the enemy head-on?"

The other soldiers started muttering similar thoughts, at least until one of the men (a giant of a lifer who towered over everyone there) spoke up with rumbling laugh. "Don't worry about it lads, I'm sure it'll turn out fine. We got General Kayuu on our side after all."

*Scene Break*

A few hours later, things certainly were not fine; a fact punctuated by the former speaker gone flying overhead along with a dozen other corpses, tossed into the air by a blow backed by strength few mortals could hope to match.

It had all started okay; even if they had been facing a truly large force, it had seemed that only the forces from Shoku were actually engaging them. Even still, at the time Huang could only grip his spear and try to suppress the shakes running through his body. He could see his death in the soldiers across from him, because surely they were all well-trained, unlike him: a man handed a spear, drilled for about two weeks and told to go die for a lord he had never met, seen, or even known about a month ago.

When the enemy charged he had nearly run for home right then and there, but the mass of bodies behind him kept him from doing so, and when they had been ordered to counter charge the ex-farmer was grateful that he wasn't a man on the front line. He was much too close for his own liking.

He was forced to watch for nearly twenty minutes as the battle got closer and closer to him. The lines of soldiers ahead of him had initially fallen slowly, at least until the enemy commanders had arrived on the field. A girl that from afar he could scarcely believe was old enough to be allowed on the battlefield proved her worth when in minutes she left a trail of broken corpses behind her like a force of nature. While at the same time, an older woman that Huang might have admired for her beauty in different circumstances—namely if she wasn't cutting down his comrades left and right—was supporting the armageddon loli.

It was then that his brief acquaintance from sentry duty went flying overhead, and Huang could only fear what was coming, knowing he was going to die at the hands of either the soldiers or the two hurricanes that were the enemy commanders. Then, just as he was about to say 'Screw it' and run for his life, consequences be damned, the two enemy commanders were taken out of the picture. Kayuu appeared to simultaneously engage them both.

Then Huang didn't have time to watch anymore, suddenly finding himself on the front line and having to fend off a Shoku soldier armed much like he was; though the Shoku man had the advantage of armour, something Huang could only wish he had as he dodged a spear thrust from the soldier.

Thrusting back desperately, Huang saw his spear bounce off his opponent's armour, leaving him open to being stabbed right back. Closing his eyes and bracing for the pain, Huang hung for a few moments in waiting for his death. When it didn't come he cracked open his eyes again only to see his enemy lying on the ground before him, a small hole in the side of his helmet with a rock lodged in it. The battle between Kayuu and the enemy commanders had shifted much closer to the poor conscript during his own fight, and apparently the sheer force of the blows being thrown about had kicked up a rock and killed the man across from him.

Suddenly free of an opponent, and no enemy really risking getting close enough to the battling women to come after him, Huang found himself free to observe the battlefield again from just outside the perimeter of the two-vs-one fight.

What he saw was quite worrying for him. He observed that the numbers of Totaku troops were now drastically outweighed by the Coalition forces, and he also saw that Kayuu was starting to lose ground to her two opponents. Even as he watched, Huang saw what was probably going to be the final strike; the black-haired enemy commander having the upper hand over Kayuu, and the conscript was faced with the knowledge that any moment now he would likely die at the hands of one of the two opponents—more than likely the smaller of the two, given the earlier displays of destructive force.

So in a split second, Huang came to a conclusion that was both self-serving and selfless, and would change the course of history. Raising his still-unbloodied spear above his head, the farmer put all his strength born of years of backbreaking labour into a single toss. Throwing the long weapon across the not-all-that long distance between him and the ongoing battle, he prayed to every ancestor that would listen to guide his spear to the black-haired woman, thus saving Kayuu so she could fight the loli and maybe help him live another few minutes. It seemed they had listened, as his spear flew true.

It was just unfortunate that all the ancestors in the world couldn't help Huang actually harm one of the women whose skill and strength was in superhuman territory. It was not even within his ability to actually hinder the black-haired commander, who seemingly took his thrown spear in stride. The enemy commander batted it out of the air in the same motion that brought the back of her weapon into the side of Kayuu's head. The force sent Huang's general flying through the air like a doll with its strings cut, and right into Huang himself.

The poor conscript didn't have a hope in hell of dodging the flying woman, and after a painful impact Huang went flying through the air for a moment before crashing into something squishy, yet still hard enough that he was out cold before he even had a chance to settle.

Huang wasn't exactly sure how much later it had been when he woke up, but he found himself in the dark, with only a single line of light coming to where he was. He also felt incredibly heavy; like his body was pinned down. Blinking his eyes a few times, he saw that his observation was quite correct. He was, in fact, pinned down by the weight of bodies above him; the small amount of light being the only view to the world outside the pile of dead bodies he had apparently been launched into by the force of Kayuu hitting him.

Speaking of his general of two weeks, the white-haired woman was currently in the pile with him, somehow having gotten tangled up on his side. Even in the time it took him to notice her, Huang was able to tell she was breathing, so at the very least he had did something somewhat right. He also wasn't dead yet and he couldn't hear any sounds of battle, so maybe he had actually succeeded in his plan to survive this hellish fight.

Shifting himself so he could look out the hole to the outside world, he saw a rather terrifying sight. Death was littered about the field around him, and there were a few more piles like his one where the fighting had been particularly thick. At the same time, though it looked like the fighting had stopped, the only live people Huang could see were what seemed to be a few civilians digging around the corpses.

Huang actually had to suppress a cheer as he realized his survival of the battle. A sudden shout from a pile of dead bodies was bound to garner someone's attention. Instead Huang, who had been smart enough to pull one over on the imperial tax collectors, put his mind to work on making sure he used this stroke of good fortune to get to safety. Pushing himself out of the pile, he glanced around and noticed that no one seemed to have noticed him, so he searched the pile for the first Shoku soldier he could find.

Quickly stripping the dead man of his clothes, the man's armour would be too obvious and people would wonder what a soldier was doing wandering what appeared to be a fully barren battlefield—therefore, Huang would have to pass as a civilian. Luckily that was something the farmer would be able to do quite well, given how he was one not long ago.

Then after he got changed he reached back in and pulled Kayuu out, too. It might slow him down and bring the risk of his detection if anyone happened to notice the prominent figure, but Huang wasn't about to leave the still-breathing general here to be captured or, worse yet, burned along with the pile. On top of that he honestly had no idea where he was, and the general could likely guide him back to a major city once she woke up.

The next step on Huang's escape list was acquiring a cart. A single man dragging the 'corpse' of the unfortunately rather distinctive, dead enemy general would likely be stopped and forced to hand over the body. If he had a cart, he could at least hide Kayuu under a few other bodies and act like he was taking them to burial or to be burned or something. Fortunately for him a cart was quite easy to get on a battlefield. The man didn't even have far to walk and get a handcart that had been used by his former compatriots to hold extra arrows.

The cart was still half-full of the death dealing-shafts, and Huang briefly considered sweeping them off before he realized that he could probably sell them all for a very good price. So instead he pulled the cart back toward where he left Kayuu and tossed a few bodies on it to act as a mat; then laying down Kayuu and her weapon, and then another layer of bodies.

After making sure the former general was both hidden and still able to breathe, Huang departed. He headed toward the other civilians, and then to the camp, and made it safely beyond the borders of the battlefield.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: Well, not much to say here, this should have come out long ago but I had alot of issues getting it beta'd and that kept in in limbo for a few months, at this point I just decided to say screw it and throw it out anyways. Will likely be doing the same with the next chapter if I can't get a beta within a reasonable time frame.**

**As always, if you like, hate, or are neutral to the story, feel free to leave a review, I'll read it regardless.**

Disclaimer: If I owned Koihime Musou it wouldn't require a fan effort to get Shin Koihime Musou translated.

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**Chapter 2: To Xianbei**

Huang had to admit, the camp following the Coalition was almost more impressive than their army. With so many soldiers involved in the joint operation, the amount of camp followers involved in the force could best be described as a moving city, one that stretched all the way into the distance.

Still pulling his cart containing Kayuu behind him, Huang faced no challenge to enter the camp itself, it seemed that he passed well enough as just another person who made a living off the dead that no one thought to question him. The problem he knew was likely going to be getting out of the massive tent city, seeing as most people would probably use the bodies themselves, or find a buyer for their haul within the camp.

Huang was wondering if he could get his hands on some straw or hay and use that to cover his stow away instead when he encountered a sight that made him further reconsider the intelligence of his plan to escape through the civilian camp.

In an empty square a number of Han soldiers had been gathered, their hands tied behind their backs and they were forced to be on their knees. Around them soldiers, who from what Huang had been told before were from Wei, were standing with their weapons ready. A single officer walking along the line and giving the captured soldiers a single question, they could join Gi's forces or they could die.

Judging by the disturbing number of headless soldiers on one end of the line, it seemed like a good number had taken the latter option.

Huang gulped, and pulled his cart along a bit faster, if he got caught trying to sneak out a Han General he was fairly sure he would find himself dead in a heartbeat. He wasn't about to let himself get killed like that though, especially not after he had just escaped from the battle of Sishui pass.

So Huang continued walking through the camp, keeping his eyes deferentially on the ground a dozen feet infront of him. The former farmer did his best to look as unassuming as he knew how to from years of practice. It seemed to work well enough, and he as before he wasn't challenged by anyone.

Even finding hay proved relatively easy, in a camp this big there were enough unwatched stables for Huang to get some to fill his cart, and even, after he stripped some weapons and armour from them, hide the corpses so he wouldn't have to keep carrying them around.

With Kayuu once more hidden, and note taken of the numerous small wounds the women had, Huang trudged through the camp to his hopeful escape. On the way though he saw another incident of former Han soldiers being cut down, this time by Go soldiers. This time he didn't give them more than a cursory glance, as he was unwilling to once again look at the scene that would assuredly await him if he failed.

Eventually he found himself at the end of the camp, a where once more he went unquestioned. Huang really wasn't sure if he had just gotten lucky, if this was standard military procedure, or if the camp had become so flush with news of their victory that they didn't even bother with the risk of thieves. Regardless of which it was he wasn't about to complain, not when it benefitted him so much.

The issue was when he got out of the camp Huang came to, well not an epiphany since he had considered it previously, but certainly he remembered a rather serious problem. As the farmer looked at the land around him he came to the conclusion that he was totally and utterly lost. Ontop of that he realized that he wasn't even sure that he could go home.

After all he had seen how the Gi and Go were treating their prisoners, and now he was effectively a deserter so he could only assume that he would receive similar treatment if he was caught by the Han again. Then he remembered the other horror tales he had heard before, of old emperors and empresses that had ordered the destruction of entire villages for harbouring a deserter.

He couldn't risk that on his own town, but that left only one other thing. He had heard during his brief stint in the army that in the north there was group of people, called the Xianbei, who accepted deserters into their ranks. It wouldn't be ideal, but it would atleast give him a place to lay low till he was sure the Han were off him.

Ontop of that Kayuu was probably going to need a place to rest, even if none none of the other wounds had stopped her the ex-general had still accumulated a rather worrying number of injuries, and well Huang was sure that he could find treatment easily in a village along the way, it would still take her some time to recover from the battle she had gone through.

So for now Huang decided to follow a road, if nothing else he would atleast pass a village where he could get Kayuu bandaged up, then he would look for the first crossroad and head north from there.

*Scene Break*

"Well I won't ask where she got all those wounds," the elder said as he stepped back from Huang's wagon. Said wagon was currently parked behind one of the few central buildings in the town, and luckily for Huang the doctor was the only other person around, "But I'll say that she seems to already be recovering from most of them. She has a truly remarkable healing rate."

"So will there be anything I need to actually do?" Huang asked, honestly he hoped not because he was not a trained doctor, and the only wounds he had ever taken care of were small cuts from an accidental slip of tools.

The doctor shook his head, "No just change the bandages when they get dirty and keep her well rested and she'll be fine. Now I suggest that since you want to avoid as much notice as possible you get a move on before someone who's curious comes out here to check up on me."

Huang responded by starting to once more cover Kayuu with the hay, and once the task was completed he added, "Thanks, and I hope you find good use for my donation," Said donation was why the elder wasn't asking questions, and had secured the farmer some more durable food for his trip. The medicine man had asked for a good quarter of the armour and weapons he had salvaged from the battlefield, probably planning to melt them down to sell the metals.

Still between rest of the armour and al the arrows he still had on the bottom of the cart, Huang was sure he'd have enough to barter him and Kayuu enough food to make it to Xianbei, and maybe some better transportation for the trip. He personally hoped that he would be able to keep the arrows, he had heard rumours that the Xianbei were a people of the horse and bow and he hoped that the arrows would be a good gift to the people he would be begging to take him in.

Taking his hold on the cart again Huang set off once more, really quite thankful that he had been a farmer for so long, as he was sure without the strength from his profession he would never be able to make it well pulling all this weight.

*Scene Break*

It was nearly noon the next day when Kayuu finally woke up. Huang had put a good distance between them and the village where he had gotten the general patched up and had gotten quite used to the silence that he had expected the day was going to hold for him. So as it was when he heard murmuring from the cart he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Urgh, where…am…"

Huang didn't hear anything more before something happened that did have him jumping out of his skin, namely a blade being held to his neck as he was mid turn. The farmer had to keep his bowels from evacuating when he felt the cold steel pressing against his skin. Unwilling to move his head he instead just glanced out of the corner of his eyes at the now glaring and sitting upright Kayuu.

"Who are you, and why have you kidnapped me," The white haired general said in a tone that said if she didn't like what she heard Huang would be dead before he know it.

Resisting the urge to gulp, Huang slowly moved his hands to hold them palms forward. On reflection he did realized this kind of looked like kidnapping, answering honestly and hoping it was enough the farmer said, "I am Huang, one of your ex-soldiers Ma'am, and I didn't kidnap you. You were badly injured in the battle and I pulled you away before the enemy could capture you."

Kayuu continued to glare, and Huang could only believe that she was still thinking over killing him, so he added, "If I was an enemy why would I have brought your weapon too, or bandaged you up, or not just killed you already."

Still the glare was focused on him, and Huang's legs started to shake a bit, and finally the general spoke, "If you were a Han soldier then where is your weapon and armour?"

"I-I ditched my armour so I wouldn't get spotted trying to sneak you out, and I threw my spear before you were even knocked out."

That new information made Kayuu's glare harden even more, "You were the one who threw their spear at Kan'U weren't you"

"Yes Ma'am," Huang squeaked out, he had no idea why the general seemed to be even angrier than ever at him when she put those two together. The glare remained on him for another minute or so before Kayuu let out an angry sigh and pulled her great axe back. How the injured woman was still able to handle the massive weapon with one hand was beyond the farmer but he wasn't about to question her.

"Then I guess I have to thank you for keeping me alive," Kayuu said, before in a flash the axe blade was right back at Huang's throat, "But if you ever interfere in such a fight again, I will make sure you regret it, understand?"

The farmer gave a very small nod, all that he was willing to risk with the weapon right there, and luckily it seemed to be enough. Letting out a sigh of his own Huang released most of the tension he had built up in the brief encounter and was about to say something when Kayuu beat him too it.

"By your words I can only assume that Sishiu Pass was lost?"

Huang nodded again, "Yes Ma'am, after you fell the battle was lost."

"And what of Hulao Pass?"

"I…do not know General," Huang said again, he knew that the pass was the fortress only a short distance from the fort he had been tasked to defend, and given the time he wouldn't be surprised if it had fallen.

It seemed that Kayuu came to the same conclusion, or just read it off Huang's face, "It's been some time hasn't it?"

"Yes, Ma'am, nearly 3 days now"

Kayuu stared at the surrounding hills in silence, before focusing once more on Huang, "And just where were you planning to take me soldier?"

"To Xianbei Ma'am, we had to get away from the Coalition or they would have killed us both, and I couldn't get us back to the Han without going through the Coalition army."

"So you decided to be a deserter instead?" Kayuu's glare had returned and Huang was stating to reconsider the intelligence of saving the woman.

Still the farmer managed to keep himself mostly together and he responded shakily, "There was no other choice General, the Coalition stood between us and the rest of the Han army and I am sorry for presuming but I do not believe you are in shape to fight. We would only have accomplished getting killed senselessly."

Kayuu continued glaring for another moment before she huffed, "Fine, your logic is sound even if I don't like it, and I can forgive your disloyalty to the Han due to your choice to save me."

"Thank you General," Huang would have said he didn't deserve any thanks but he also noticed that Kayuu had never given him any, "I think you should get more rest though, you took a lot of wounds during the fight and most of them are still healing. I can handle getting us to the next town and hopefully we can get better transportation there."

"This is rather uncomfortable," Kayuu said with a nod before she lay down again, burying her axe under the hay once more. Huang took that as a good indicator that the conversation was done, and turned to pick up the grips of the cart to start off once more.

*Scene Break*

"Well atleast we finally got something more comfortable to travel in then that hand cart, though it's too bad they didn't have any news on the Han" Kayuu said as they left the village, giving a long stretch from the back of the new wagon that Huang had managed to get for them, and the farmer could only agree. The new wagon he had gotten was drawn by a horse, meaning he could finally rest his arms and legs, and he had only had to trade most of the rest of the armour and weapons for it.

For now Huang sat in the front, guiding them down the road well the still wounded general sat in the back on the saved hay, "Well General, it's barely been a week. One can't expect news to reach a small village so quickly, even one so close to the battlefield."

The white haired woman sighed and rubbed her temples as she lay back in the cart, "Well until we hear something either way I refuse to let myself or you cross the Yellow River."

"Of course Ma'am," Huang replied, he wasn't exactly pleased at Kayuu's decision to stay until they knew if the Han would need her assistance, and personally he would rather have left by now. The problem was that there was no way in hell he would ever say no to the incredibly dangerous woman, especially since she still could probably get away with executing him for desertion.

The only good thing in Huang's book about it was that there were still two more villages on the way to river crossing, and that meant that he hadn't yet had to deviate from his chosen course.

Silence ruled for a little while after that, neither of the two were really all that comfortable with eachother yet. Even if Huang had saved Kayuu, the white haired woman didn't know the soldier, and given that she was still hoping that the Han were intact and she could return to her generalship, she didn't want to get to know him. There was also the whole thing about Huang interrupting her fight with Kan'U, spoiling the battle for both sides, and even if she was quite sure the man wasn't planning anything evil, he still had practically kidnapped her.

For Huang it was a bit simpler, he was just plain nervous to be around a woman who had been capable of standing toe to toe with the death loli, and had held an axe to his throat, and as he had admitted when he first saw the woman, was quite attractive.

So the silence dragged on, and well it was awkward, it was more so for Kayuu then Huang. The latter had at times gone days talking to anyone when he had worked his fields. The former wasn't unused to silence but she had always been a commander of some format for some time and had grown used to constant chatter around her.

Luckily for both they only had to put up with it for two hours, and by that time Kayuu had fallen asleep again. Huang himself had begun to nod off, only kept awake by the knowledge of the dangers that could thrive in wooded hills when he heard some shouting in the distance. It was too far to really make out anything, but at the same time he could tell the voices were getting closer by the second.

Even worse was that when he could hear them it really wasn't good, "Just keep your eyes open Shorty, there is sure to be some refugees fleeing Luoyang around here and they'll be ripe for the picking."

"Shit," Huang murmured to himself for a variety of reasons, and then turned in his seat to shake the woman sleeping woman in the back, "General, General you have to wake up. There are bandits coming."

"Urgh, can't you deal with them yourself?" Kayuu muttered sleepily, though she seemed to be getting up atleast.

"Unlikely Ma'am, me not having the a weapon is the least of my problems at that."

Kayuu sat herself up and reached into the hay, searching for her hidden weapon, apparently finding it she growled, "Fine, though you better get a weapon off one of these guys so you can stop being useless."

"Well if it helps General, one of them mentioned something about Luoyang, so maybe they've heard some news."

Kayuu went ridged as soon as Luoyang was mentioned, and her face gained a determined frown, "Well then if you'll excuse me for a minute, I need to go collect some information."

Huang almost shuddered at the tone of her voice, and he did feel very sorry for the trio of bandits that were even now cresting the next hill. They were not exactly the most threatening three, with one being incredibly short, another being about the same height as Huang, and the last was a towering man, but also seemed to be very overweight. All in all if it wasn't for the swords ranging from dagger sized to what amounted to a slab of iron attached to a handle they would looked like they were a comedy troop instead of a group of bandits.

They also had all the fighting prowess of a comedy troop, as in barely the space of a blink Kayuu had crossed the distance, left the short and fat ones knocked out cold on the ground, and was holding her blade to the average looking one's throat. The farmer almost winced in sympathetic pain as he pulled the wagon up to the scene just in time to hear Kayuu's questioning.

"What have you heard about Luoyang, do Totaku and her generals still hold?" The white haired force of nature said, the same frown still on her face.

"W-What the hell ye crazy broad. We were just a pack of travellers and ye just randomly up and attacked us. Y-You've got to pay us b-" That was about as far as the bandit got before he was cut off by the toe of the axe pressing further against his neck.

"Tell me right now or I'll cut your head off and see if you're friends are more agreeable."

"The Coalition and them captured the capital! Totaku's supposed to be dead or something from what I h-heard. Now please don't kill me!"

Kayuu's frown deepened, and she gave out an angry growl as she started to turn away from the bandit, who promptly took the opening to try to stab her in the back. The idiotic bandit learned the error of his ways when he ended up flying into woods nearby from a hit by the flat of the axe.

The now definitely ex-general said nothing as she returned to the wagon, and Huang wasn't about to ask her anything in her current mood. So instead he grabbed the sword the average bandit had left behind when he made his impromptu flight, and got them moving again, off to the land of the horselords.

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**Post Note: Well I don't usually do these, but felt this was't really good to put up at the top. Personally I don't think this chapter turned out great, and the lack of beta really didn't help in my opinion (I am unfortunately a terrible proofreader), but at the same time I didn't feel that just skipping to Xianbei was a good idea either. Sorry if its terrible, but I promise I'll make it better with the next few chapters.**

**Also for anyone who also reads my B-Team story, don't worry, I got a chapter coming out for it shortly. I swear this time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: **Finally got this chapter out, it wasn't for any real problem with writing it as much as me trying to get ahead again in my backlog. Also making sure I had where this was going plotted out ahead of time, because I made that mistake before. Also if anyone reading wants to take up betaing this story, I am looking for a new beta so just throw me a PM.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Koihime Musou franchise.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Arrival at Xianbei**

It was a bit more than a week later when Huang and Kayuu reached the southern borders of Xianbei, and in that time only a few notable things had occurred. The first was that Kayuu had recovered pretty much fully from her earlier wounds. The white haired general had already been on her feet as those bandits they had encountered early on in their journey had learned, but as Huang learned afterwards, the woman had been holding back on them.

Unfortunately, given a lack of any further bandits, Kayuu had started to grow antsy. Apparently during her time being a bandit lord and serving the Han she had had regular training fights with her fellow generals. Since none of them were around at this point, that left only Huang to have to deal with being an outlet for his ex-general's energy. So that lead to the second notable thing, Huang had started to get some training with how to use the sword he had taken off the bandit.

Thanks to that, the poor farmer currently was best described as one giant bruise, and they had only had one training session. Kayuu didn't believe in starting slow, or giving Huang a chance to figure out which end of the sword he should stab with, and had only stopped striking at a frighteningly high amount of force when Huang pointed out that he couldn't heal as fast as her. Even then she had only pulled back just enough to not break his bones or vaporize any internal organs. At the very least he now knew the very basics of how to use a sword, not that it would help him in a fight right now.

The last notable thing was that in the last week the two had gotten atleast slightly more talkative with eachother, and as of the day before, Kayuu knew Huang's name now.

"You know, I'm kinda surprised that we haven't encountered anyone yet. You sure we're in the right place Huan?"

Sorta.

Huang sighed, "If the last village didn't give us poor directions we should have passed the border sometime this morning. Also it's Huang."

"Right, Huang. Well hope some people show up quick, it's getting pretty boring just staring at these plains all day," Kayuu said as she somehow maneuvered her giant axe to scratch her back.

That was another thing. For the first few days after they had encountered the bandits, Kayuu had been quite down. The woman had muttered things about wondering what happened to her fellow generals and telling herself, and occasionally randomly shouting at Huang, that they all were likely still alive. She seemed very adamant that one called Ryofu was for sure still out there, and she hoped that the others might have gotten the same idea as Huang and fled to the Xianbei.

"Well I doubt the Xianbei have people just sitting on the border waiting for people. They're supposed to be nomads or something so actually finding them is…" Huang trailed off as he noticed that Kayuu wasn't paying any attention anyways, and seemed to be looking off into the distance.

The woman squinted a little bit, before a slightly worrying smile came to her face, "Well looks like we found some of them. A good twenty people on horses are heading our way."

"How," Huang said as he looked in the same direction, "How can you even see them? I just see rolling hills and a cloud."

"The cloud you idiot, it's the dust kicked up by their horses, and if you squint hard enough you can see the people at its base."

Huang was thankful she had just called him an idiot instead of like, bashed him on the back of the head for his stupidity. Still the farmer tried to spot the horse riders that Kayuu had apparently seen, but for a few minutes could only catch the sight of the dust cloud. Eventually though the riders, and there were twenty of them as the general said, managed to get close enough for Huang to see and the only reason he wasn't getting worried again was the woman beside him.

Kayuu seemed quite relaxed as the riders approached, propping her axe so it stood upright in the wagon in a clear symbol they were armed. Though really given its size Huang would put it past the horsepeople to think she was holding a flag or something. Either way it seemed like the white haired woman was almost inviting the northerners to attack them with the bows Huang could now see they were all carrying.

Even with the relaxed woman beside him, Huang ended up starting to hold his breath as the riders drew closer and closer, and only released it with a relieved sigh when the riders got much too close to make the most use out of their bows. At the same time Kayuu lifted her non axe hand over her head and shouted, "Hey, are you guys the Xianbei we've been hearing about?"

The leading horse rider came to a halt not more than two dozen feet ahead of the wagon, giving the two a good chance to look at them and their nineteen friends. All of them were wearing long cloth robes that were tied around the waist and had armour layered over their chests. They also had a collection of heavy furred caps and cloths that covered their head below the eyes, probably to fend off dust and dropping temperatures so far north.

The lead one also had hard eyes, which right now were narrowed at Huang and Kayuu, though mostly at the latter as Huang had received a brief glance over before apparently being dismissed as a potential threat. The stare down lasted for nearly a minute, the whole time Kayuu glared back at the rider, though that same almost disturbing smile was on her face.

After the minute had passed the rider grunted and some tension dropped from all the horselords shoulders. The lead on reached up and grabbed the edge of her face concealing cloth, lowering it to reveal a feminine face, and judging by the scar running along her jaw she was every bit as dangerous as any soldier.

The woman glared for another moment before a half smile broke out on her face and Kayuu's terrifying grin changed to a less frightening one, the rider spoke first, "Yes we're the Xianbei, let me guess you are some more deserters from the south?"

Huang could only nod, a bit too worried about being near someone that apparently Kayuu found entertaining. The ex-general on the other hand said, "Yes, name's Kayuu, former General under Totaku, and this Huan-"

"Huang," the farmer cut in automatically

"Huang, a former soldier of mine," Kayuu finished, barely noticing the cut in.

"And I'm Nanlou, warlord under Budugen, and I must admit I am curious, how did a General find themselves in a situation to flee to us? Most of the time aren't your kind killed or poached by your former enemies?"

Kayuu frowned slightly, "Well that was mostly Huang's doing, I was defeated on the battlefield and he managed to get me away before I could be captured. After that we learned that my Empress was defeated and we made our way here."

"Hmmm," Nanlou said and rubbed her chin, "Well if you really are a former general then I think we could find use for you within our ranks, but we'll figure out if you're lying or not when we bring you before Budugen."

It wasn't a request, and Huang shifted in a bit, worrying about whether heading hear was a good choice or not. Still Kayuu didn't seem too perturbed, and once more the frightening smile that showed way too many teeth, was on her face, "Heh, I could show you right now how useful I could be but you might end up having to be ridden home in pieces."

Nanlou seemed to consider it for a moment, before she said, "No, it wouldn't do for us to reach Budugen and have you to injured to prove if you're useful. Now peon, get that cart moving, I want to get back before sundown."

"Yes, Ma'am," Huang said and looked to Kayuu for confirmation. The white haired woman still had a smile that would put sharks to shame when she nodded, and a moment later they set off.

*Scene Break*

As they pulled to a half well before the sun had set, Huang was quite surprised at how far close the Xianbei's 'city' was. It hadn't taken them more than a few hours to reach the collection of tents so big that it put the Coalition's camp to shame. There were more tents then the farmer could hope to count as they had been lead toward a giant tent at its center that apparently was the residence of Budugen.

"Tie your horse here peon," Nanlou said as she dismounted her steed and took off her hat to reveal cropped black hair. The Xianbei warlord hadn't addressed Huang by name yet, and didn't seem likely to do so anytime soon, "And come with me Kayuu, Budugen is just inside."

The white haired general had gone back to a more neutral face now, and got off the wagon to follow Nanlou inside, though she did add to Huang before she disappeared into the tent, "As soon as you got that tied up come inside too, just keep quiet, watch, and if a fight breaks out try to learn something."

It didn't take the farmer more than a few seconds to tie the horse up, and, unwilling to risk pissing the woman off, he followed quickly after Kayuu. He was expecting something like a serious scene inside, but instead what Huang found was Kayuu trying and failing to supress laughter, Nanlou looking completely serious, and a short non-threatening red haired woman dressed like Nanlou pouting in the center of the room.

Kayuu spoke first through her laughter, "Y-You know I would have expected the leader of a huge barbarian army would be a bit more intimidating."

"I'm not a child! I'm just small, have you ever tried to grow big on the kind of diet we have up here?" The girl who could only be Budugen exclaimed.

"She," Kayuu pointed at a half glaring Nanlou with her thumb, "Seemed to do fine."

Budugen seemed to be growing even more irate, her fists clenched at her sides, when Huang cut in and nervously said, "Kayuu, y-you should probably not insult our hosts."

"It's as the peon says, if you want to have a hope of leaving this camp you should not insult Lord Budugen."

Kayuu took a moment and brought an end to her laughter, though she looked totally unrepentant as she said, "Ahh were are my manners. I am Kayuu, a former general of the Han, and sorry about that it was just surprising."

Budugen let out an angry puff and calmed herself down, "See that you don't do it again if you want to be accepted here. Now to business, Nanlou here sent news ahead of your claim and if what you say is true then I think you could do great things with us."

"But the issue is you need to confirm if I'm telling the truth or not," Kayuu said with a dismissive wave, "I can atleast prove that I've got the combat prowess for it if that's what you want."

Budugen crossed her arms and nodded, "Yes, let's head outside and Nanlou can test you. Though before that," The redhead turned and looked at Huang, "You, Kayuu's peon, what do you bring that's useful to the Xianbei."

Huang bowed a bit to the barbarian leader, and for a moment thought about what he did have to offer the Xianbei, before he remembered something, "Ahh, I've brought a few hundred fresh arrows in my cart from when I left Han service."

Budugen and Nanlou both looked at Huang for a moment and Kayuu looked like she only just remembered the arrows as well. Nanlou was the one to speak, "We can check the quality of those arrows after we test Kayuu's potential."

"Ya," Budugen half cheered, evidently her excitement about the coming fight making her already forgot her annoyance at Kayuu, "If they are of good enough quality then maybe we'll let Kayuu keep you as an aide instead of just putting you with the other defectors."

*Scene Break*

The four, plus a large numbers of picked up tag alongs who evidently wanted to watch the coming fight, arrived at a large clearing within the tent city, where everything from archery targets to what appeared to be some sort of 30 foot tall wall had been set up, though all those were avoided.

Instead they found themselves at a large circular area that was fenced off by short walls, and even now Kayuu and Nanlou were both within the arena with their weapons at the ready. The two stared eachother down for a few moments, before Kayuu hefted her great axe and charged with the crowd cheering around her.

The Xianbei warlord held a normal sized curved blade and waited till the last moment to dodge Kayuu's attack. Even as she sidestepped a blow that carved a deep rift in the ground Nanlou was on the attack, her body twisting in an attempt to drive her blade through Kayuu's ribs.

The strike was met with the haft of the great axe, the silver haired general having already pulled the weapon out of the ground and brought it to a defensive position. Though Kayuu didn't stay on the defensive for long, instead as she blocked Nanlou's sword she pushed back.

The movement forced the weapon back up and gave Kayuu the space to lash out with a vicious kick at Nanlou's leg. The barbarian dodging it by leaping backward where she settled with her blade held straight out infront of her.

Kayuu didn't let up the attack though. Knowing that she would never be able to keep up with the sword defensively she charged again and at the extent of her much greater reach she struck in a vicious horizontal strike which Nanlou leapt over. The attack was so strong that the air it displaced slammed into the surrounding walls and nearly caused one to crack in half.

Even though the barbarian had managed a successful dodge, she was now in a very dangerous situation. Even if she was airborne and able to strike Kayuu from above, she also was airborne and unable to dodge. Kayuu instead followed the momentum of her swing, letting it pull her out of the way of Nanlou's potential strike before she tilted the head of the axe upward and struck out with a full rotation's worth of force.

Nanlou, still midair, pulled off a feat of bravery that bordered on suicidal just to dodge. Twisting in midair she put her shoulder forward with her weapon braced against it and when Kayuu's axe made contact she reached out and grabbed the beard of the great weapon. Pulling on it as hard as she could and using her braced weapon to shield her shoulder as she yanked herself over the weapon and was once more flying through the air at Kayuu.

The ex-general didn't have time to get a third rotation in so instead she leaped off the ground following the haft of her axe. The entire maneuver risky in its own as Nanlou reached out with her sword to try to cut Kayuu as she passed, and came very close to doing so. As she passed underneath Nanlou, a few of Kayuu's hairs were cut off by the tip of the sword that passed not even an inch from her face.

The two landed on the ground at the same time and Nanlou acted first, using her lighter weapon to change directions quicker the barbarian woman was already rocketing toward Kayuu's back before the white haired woman could even fully land properly. Though even as the potential killing blow came down, Kayuu was moving herself, and the poleaxe's butt rocketed out from under her arm pit, heading toward the barbarian's heart as the ex-general shortened her grip. With the speed the two of them were moving the blow would likely have been puncturing and thus fatal, and Nanlou was forced to give up her own blow to avoid dying herself. Dodging to her right to get away from the deadly protuberance.

As soon as she started moving Kayuu was too, holding her axe just under the shoulder, was able to move much faster than before. Twisting to meet Nanlou the two girl's weapons struck like a thunderclap, and were accompanied by a burst of air that stirred up dust and grass from the field around them.

As soon as the force was spent out of the two weapons Nanlou struck again and again, only for each attack to be blocked by Kayuu until once again the white haired general stepped in and used her superior size to push the black haired warlord back. As soon as space was between them Kanyuu twisted once more, though this time she pulled her axe away from the woman. Unfortunately for Nanlou that mean she now found herself trying to dodge the fully extended haft flying at her at high speeds, doubly unfortunately the warlord was stumbling, and had no hope of getting the purchase needed to actually dodge.

With a loud crack the haft smashed into Nanlou's side, and with an even louder crash the woman was sent flying into the side boards. Blowing one of the wooden fences apart and scattering a few people who were on the other side.

For a moment silence reigned over the arena, before a single cheer broke out, from none other than Budugen herself, "Ohh that was awesome! You are so~o becoming one of my Warlords."

"Do I get to keep my peon?" Kayuu said as she planted her axe into the ground, well Huang was eternally grateful that he had somehow gotten enough into the general's good books to not be left to fend for himself

Budugen nodded, "Yep you can even keep your peon!"

"Then I'm at your service," Kayuu said with a grin.

Then cheers broke out from the rest of the watchers well Budugen and Kayuu, with Huang tagging along, went to go check on Nanlou. They found the black haired warlord pulling herself out of a deep trailing crater, and Kayuu spoke with a hint of mirth, "That was a good fight Nan-chan, hope I didn't hit you too hard."

The other girl threw Kayuu what Huang could only assume was a sarcastic glare, "You'd have to hit a lot harder than that little tap to hurt me Yin-tan."

Kayuu just brushed off the sarcasm without a thought and instead offered Nanlou a hand to help her up as she said, "Please, if we are going to be working together might as well call me Miyabi."

"Ahh right, you southerners and your two names thing," Nanlou responded as she took the offered hand. It seemed like the two warriors had used the fight to turn into friends in record time.

Just when Huang didn't things could get weirder, Budugen leaped at the two and pulled them both into what seemed like a crushing hug, the smaller woman having the strength to bounce all three of them in the air as she cheered, "Ohh we are all going to be such great friends! And with you two we are going to be able to show Sousou just who is the power of the North!"

Huang could only sigh, and wonder what he had gotten himself into.


End file.
